Stewart said that he supports the pipeline because it’s the will of the community, and neither the federal government nor the state should dictate what Washington County should do.

“There’s overwhelming support among the local community,” he said. “The other thing is if we don’t do this, this community will die. You have to have a reliable source of water.”

Stewart said that if Utah doesn’t claim the water out of Lake Powell, other states will.

Ghorbani countered by saying there’s also support in the community for increased conservation efforts. She said that before she could fully support the project, she would need a better understanding of the real costs to the community. The comment drew applause from the crowd.

Stewart affirmed his desire for a proper environmental and regulatory process, again emphasizing community support for the project.

“It is a very expensive project but once again the local community made the decision that they would fund that, that they would pay for that so…”

Members of the local community in attendance at the Dolores Dore Eccles Fine Arts Center raised their voices in protest, cutting off the congressman’s remarks mid-sentence.

Moderator Doug Wilks reminded the crowd of the rules, which call for silence from the audience, and moved on to the next question.

Health care

A question from a DSU student on health-care costs and prescription drug prices took the candidates into more divisive waters.

“We were told it would reduce our costs $2,500, that’s not true,” he said. “We were told we could keep our doctor, that it would reduce the deficit. Those things turned out not to be true.”

He pointed out a 64 percent rate increase for Utahns this year under the plan and then offered his solution.

“The first thing is, protect those with pre-existing conditions. Under my plan, the Republican plan, no one could be denied coverage,” he said.

The plan includes increasing funding for women’s health, allowing parents to keep their children on their insurance until the age of 26 and introducing cost controls. The Republican plan calls for allowing consumers to purchase health insurance across state lines.

“Those are the things that will make a difference in … not just the quality but the cost of health care,” he said.

To Ghorbani, the plan seemed familiar.

“That sounds like Obamacare,” she said.

The audience broke the rules once again by breaking into applause.

“We frankly can’t get any traction on some of these common-sense solutions because our Congress is bought and sold by pharmaceutical companies,” she said. “And they stand to benefit when we allow the increase in costs of our pharmaceuticals.”

She urged transparency in billing, negotiation of drug prices for Medicare at the federal level and full reform of the health-care system to ensure everyone has access to affordable health care, calling it a "moral obligation."

“We have the same goal here. Of course, we want to have affordable health insurance, that’s the whole point,” he said.

Ghorbani responded: “I would like to see a true revolution around how we think about providing health care in this country and I don’t see leadership on that issue from you or your party.”

Wilks cautioned the crowd after yet another round of applause and then offered the next question.

Federal deficit

Wilks asked the candidates if they saw the growing federal deficit, now $21.5 trillion, as a problem and how they would fix it.

Ghorbani said the recent tax cuts and an additional round of cuts set for approval were exacerbating the problem.

“We need to put … everything on the table and understand how we’re going to get this back under control,” she said.

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The St. George debate on Sept. 17, 2018, was the only debate that will be held for the candidates running in Utah's 2nd Congressional District race.(Photo: Chris Caldwell / The Spectrum & Daily News)

Stewart agreed the deficit is a serious problem and the consequences are serious.

“Look, we have very conflicting values here,” he said. "One of them is I want to adequately fund our military; we haven’t done that. That makes these decisions tough.”

He said he would continue to vote against bills that do not adequately address the deficit.

“You can’t fix this without looking at Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.”

U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, on cutting the federal deficit

Ghorbani questioned his response, noting the ever-expanding debt caused by decisions made during the current administration.

“I’m very concerned that we’ve conservatively spent $5.6 trillion on wars that I see no end to,” she said.

She called for a return to core values of paying for what we can afford.

Stewart pushed back on her criticism.

“We both care about the debt, that’s good news. The problem is that many of your Democratic colleagues don’t because they won’t work with us on serious ways to attack the debt,” he said. “You can’t fix this without looking at Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.”

The crowd rumbled at the remark and one man stood and said, “Utah cares about families” and left the theater voluntarily.

Wilks then asked Stewart if he was willing to cut the entitlements and military spending.

“If you’re not willing to reform these programs then you are condemning them to bankruptcy,” Stewart said. “And that’s just a fact.”

He suggested that increasing the retirement age could be one of several solutions.

Ghorbani said there is room for reform but reducing benefits or changing the retirement age is out of the question.

“To say that we’re going to cut those or force people to work into their 70s … is an unacceptable vision of the future for me,” she said.

She said there are many other places where spending can be cut. She also suggested increasing cost efficiencies in Medicare and putting an end to corporate giveaways.

“And I want to be clear, I support our troops. I support our veterans. They need to be taken care of but the excesses that we’re spending on military contractors and on endless war should absolutely be on the table,” she said.

Wilks asked Stewart about his support of the tax cut bill. Stewart responded by telling the crowd that the economy was the best it has been in his lifetime, that employment and wages are up, and the stock market is rising.

“Those are the things we promised would happen because of this tax reform,” he said. “You can’t look at those numbers and say it doesn’t matter.”

Stewart said that the Congressional Budget Office projects that 88 percent of the cost of the tax cuts will be paid for by economic growth.

“Which is once again, what we promised would happen when we passed this tax reform,” he said.

The candidates found general agreement on the remaining issues discussed including the negative effects of trade tariffs on American businesses, Russian interference in the 2016 elections and the need for immigration reform.

The final question of the debate concerned Proposition 2, Utah’s medical marijuana initiative. Both candidates said they support medical marijuana but had concerns over the proposed law as written.

Ghorbani made it clear she sees the world differently than her opponent.

“I think what we’re asking ourselves with this election is can we do better?” Ghorbani asked. “Can we rethink the way that we currently think about our lives? About the challenges that we face?”

The televised debate was co-hosted by the Utah Debate Commission and Dixie State University. Libertarian candidate Jeffrey Whipple is also running in the 2nd District but was not included in the debate schedule.